SPEECH ACTS OF COMPLIMENTS IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK CONTEXT
Keywords:
compliment, speech act, pragmatics, politeness, English, Uzbek, culture, genderAbstract
Compliments are among the most powerful and socially sensitive speech acts in human communication. They serve as instruments of positive politeness, social bonding, and identity negotiation. Yet, complimenting behavior is deeply culture-dependent; what counts as praise in one society may be seen as flattery or sarcasm in another. This paper explores the speech acts of compliments in English and Uzbek within a comparative pragmatic framework. Drawing on theories by Austin (1962), Searle (1969), and Brown and Levinson (1987), it analyzes complimenting strategies, topics, linguistic forms, and responses across the two languages. The findings reveal that English compliments tend to emphasize individual achievement and appearance, while Uzbek compliments highlight collectivist values, morality, and social harmony. Gender, age, and power relations also significantly influence how compliments are produced and interpreted. The study concludes with pedagogical implications for intercultural communication and second language teaching.
References
1. Austin, J. L. (1962). How to Do Things with Words. Oxford University Press.
2. Brown, P., & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge University Press.
3. Chen, R. (1993). Responding to compliments: A contrastive study of politeness strategies between American English and Chinese speakers. Journal of Pragmatics, 20(1), 49–75.
4. Herbert, R. K. (1990). Sex-based differences in compliment behavior. Language in Society, 19(2), 201–224.
5. Holmes, J. (1986). Compliments and compliment responses in New Zealand English. Anthropological Linguistics, 28(4), 485–508.
6. Holmes, J. (1988). Paying compliments: A sex-preferential politeness strategy. Journal of Pragmatics, 12(4), 445–465.
7. Holmes, J. (1995). Women, Men and Politeness. Longman.
8. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations. Sage.
9. Kecskes, I. (2014). Intercultural Pragmatics. Oxford University Press.
10. Karimova, N. (2018). Complimenting in Uzbek communication: Cultural values and pragmatic realization. Central Asian Linguistic Studies, 5(2), 115–133.
11. Manes, J., & Wolfson, N. (1981). The compliment formula. In F. Coulmas (Ed.), Conversational Routine (pp. 115–132). Mouton.
12. Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge University Press.
13. Spencer-Oatey, H. (2008). Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication, and Politeness Theory. Continuum.
14. Wolfson, N. (1983). An empirically based analysis of complimenting in American English. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition (pp. 82–95). Newbury House.
15. Xudoyberdiyeva, M. (2020). Complimenting behavior and politeness in Uzbek speech acts. Journal of Uzbek Philology, 3(1), 56–72.
16. Yuan, Y. (2002). Compliments and compliment responses in Kunming Chinese. Pragmatics, 12(2), 183–226.
